Thursday, May 31, 2012

The Beatnuts' logo - which first appeared on the cover of their breakout 1993 EP Intoxicated Demons - was detourned from the Reid Miles-designed cover for HankMobley'sessential 1965 Blue Note LP The Turnaround. Simple, red, direct and eminently tattooable - it's everything a good logo should be. It's also open to interpretation; is it the forked tail of deviltry? Is it a rudderless life suddenly seized by the blessing of pragmatism? Pick your poison.

Friday, May 4, 2012

Designed by anarcho-punk band Crucifix (detourned from Gerald Holtom's original 1958 symbol of the British nuclear disarmament movement) for their 1983 album "Dehumanization," issued by the Corpus Christi label, the sub-label owned by Crass. The mushroom cloud is here used as a wise and incisive presentation of the modern cross on which we were all hellbent on crucifying ourselves back in 1983. Here's Crucifix
live in concert before they broke up in 1984. If I'd had to
perform in front of a lethally bored audience like that one, I'd want to hang it up,
too. Here's an illuminating interview with Sothira Pheng, Crucifix's fiery Cambodian lead singer; it apparently dates to just before "Dehumanization" was issued. Pheng has some entertaining things to say about the episode of "Quincy" in which the punk rock menace was "revealed." I wonder if any other punk bands were interviewed about that particular network television event at the time. Here's another clip, riddled with clichés as it is, with traditional heavy William Forsythe playing the lead singer of Pain on the "CHiPs" punk rock episode. Another ridiculous scare attempted by squares. Time passages.

"Peace or Annihilation" - make your choice now with this stylish coffee mug!